Chapter 2 of Hebrews begins with
this word, Therefore, since the Lord, Hebrews 1 verse
1, since the Lord, who spake to our fathers by the prophets,
hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, our Lord
Jesus Christ, the last messenger, That prophet of Deuteronomy 18,
he's spoken to us by his son. And then he identifies him in
verse 2 of chapter 1, verse 3. Verse 2 says, whom he appointed
heir of all things and by whom he made the worlds. And verse
3 says, he's the brightness of God's glory. He's the exact image
of God's person. God was in Christ. He that hath
seen me hath seen the Father. He that hath heard me hath heard
the Father. He upholds all things by the
word of his power. And when he had by himself purged
our sins, he ascended to the right hand of the Father and
sat down, expecting till his enemies be made his footstool.
God has spoken to us by His Son, and His name is more excellent
than the angels. The angels of God worship Him.
More excellent than Moses. He has been given a name above
every name, all men, all angels, all the priests, all the prophets. Chapter 2, verse 1 said, therefore
we ought, we ought to give the most earnest heed,
the most careful attention, the most undivided attention
to the things which we've heard, lest at any time we let them
slip. What have we heard? Well, we've
heard God's Son. We've heard that prophet turn
to Deuteronomy chapter 18. We've heard that prophet of whom
Moses wrote. You know, they said to John the
Baptist, are you that prophet? He said, no. I'm not that prophet
any more than I'm the light or the truth. In Deuteronomy 18
verse 18, God said to Moses, raise them up a prophet from
among their brethren, like unto thee, Moses, I will put my words
in his mouth, and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command
him. And it shall come to pass that
whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he speaks in my
name, I will require nothing. God says, I'm going to require
of all men what my Son has declared. So we ought to give the more
earnest heed, because these are not the words of a man, this
is the Word of God. And spoken by God's own Son,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Lest at any time we let them
slip. Well, how do we let them slip? Well, we let them slip first
of all by not receiving them immediately. And believing them
when they're preached. Right now. Hear them now. The whole now
is accepted time. Today is the day of salvation.
Not tomorrow. Today. Hear them now. It's like the seed that the sower
sowed and some of it fell on fallow ground, hard ground. And
the birds there came and took them away and they didn't grow. And that's the way it is, we
hear the word, we hear the gospel, we hear our Lord speak through
his word, through his sermon. And we don't receive it right
then and lay hold of it then and meditate upon it then. and
we go out and other things just taken away. We've lost it. What was the sermon about? I
don't know. I don't know. We let them slip
first by not believing the words right now, receiving them right
now. Lord speak, thy servant hear
it. That Cornelius' band that came to his house, they said
to Peter, Alright, we're assembled here before you to hear what
God has told you to tell us. And we're going to receive it,
not as the words of Peter, but the word of God. Second way that
we let it slip is by being taken up with the cares and riches,
materialism of this world. There's so many distractions,
unspiritual things, unspiritual companions, unspiritual vocations,
unspiritual hobbies, unspiritual direction. Evil companions corrupt good
manners. And we become taken up with a
lot of things that are nothing but materialism. Riches. Worthiness. Like Demas. I weep
in my heart every time I think of Demas. Paul mentioned him
a couple of times in the Word. One time he said, Demas is with
me. Luke's with me. Luke and Demas. I can count on
those boys. Then he wrote and said, Demas
has left me. Having loved this world. Having loved this present world,
he's left me. Another way that we let them
slip is by moving away from where the gospel is preached. How shall
they hear without a preacher? How shall they hear without a
preacher? And so when the opportunity arises
for us to move to another place to better ourselves, we think, satisfy somebody, we move away. And when you move away from the
gospel, you move away from God's message and messenger. A man can find, man, woman, boy
or girl can find no spiritual growth except by the consistent
teaching of the word. by which we grow. Desire the
sincere milk of the word that you may grow thereby. You have
to hear the word. You have to be faithful to the
hearing of the gospel. So whatever it may cost me physically
or materially to put myself and my wife and my children under
the gospel, that's what I must do. And not let it slip away. Another way we let it slip is
just Fine. Hardness of heart. Bad attitude. There are people who don't like
certain preachers and they like other preachers. Those folks
over there in Corinthians, 1 Corinthians 3, someone said, well, we like
Paul. Another said, well, we like Apollos.
We're not too crazy about Paul. Another one said, we like Cephas.
Another group said, we don't like any of them. We're crushed. Hardness of heart. Poor attitude.
Well, we're not hearing a man. We're hearing God. I'd rather have the gospel in
a plain cup than error in a fancy cup. Over here in Isaiah 66,
listen to what it said. Isaiah 66. Verse 2, now attitude has a whole
lot to do with hearing, has a whole lot to do with hearing. Being persuaded that the one
who is speaking is truly speaking For God, we're ambassadors of
Christ as though God did beseech you by us. God did beseech you by us. We
may develop an attitude, not especially fond of the preacher
or the one speaking, missionary, prophet, whomever. But he's just
a man like me. In some regards he is. In some regards he's not. He's
God's man. At that particular time, he's
not just a man like me, he's God's servant. And so, if we're not careful,
we'll have an attitude that distracts us from hearing. It's a bad spirit. It's a bad feeling or it's pride. I don't have to listen to that.
Well, you do if you want to hear God. You've got to listen to
that. And he says here in Isaiah 66 too, for all these things
have my hand made, and all those things have been, saith the Lord,
but to this man will I look. Even to him that is poor, poor
in spirit. Poor in spirit is to have nothing,
know nothing and can do nothing spiritually. He's poor in spirit. He's of a contrite spirit, submissive
spirit, willing to be taught, willing to learn, willing to
hear, and tremulous at my word. That's the man I want to look
to. Therefore, these things being true, who has spoken to us, the
Son of God, and still speaks through His
messengers, through His servants. We ought to really listen and
give earnest, earnest, as for eternity, as for our soul's well-being,
as for our wives and our children, our posterity, our family, for
their sake. You men, I'm the head of my house. Old Joshua said, as for me and
my house, we're going to listen to God. We're going to serve
God. And for their sake, for their sake, listen, give earnest
heed. For he says in verse 2, the word
spoken by angels was steadfast, What is an angel? It's a messenger. I just read a while ago they're
ministering spirits. God spoke to the people in the
Old Testament by angels, actually angels. He spoke to them by Moses. Moses was God's angel to them,
God's ambassador, God's messenger. He spoke to them by Daniel and
Isaiah, Elijah, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets.
The angels are ministers of God. He spoke by men. And their word
was authentic. Their word was sure. Their word
was the message of God. Back then, if a man heard from
God, he had to hear from these prophets. These messengers, these
ministers, these angels sent of God. Now then, if the words spoken
by these men back there were steadfast and sure and authentic
and from God, no doubt about it, it's God speaking. And every transgression, refusal
to hear it, and disobedience received a just recompense of
reward. Back in the days of Noah, he
was the only one they could hear. And those that didn't hear him
perished. A just recompense. They wouldn't
hear God's servant. So they perished. Noah was a
preacher of righteousness. He preached God's righteousness.
They wouldn't hear him. And they perished. Those people in the wilderness,
Moses was God's angel. And God spoke through Moses.
And some of them wouldn't hear him. And they perished in the
wilderness. That heart that says God said
perished in the wilderness, they wouldn't hear it. King Saul wouldn't listen to
Samuel. King Uzziah wouldn't listen to
the priest. And he died. Then verse 3, how are we going
to escape? How are we going to escape the
wrath of God? The judgment of God? The just condemnation of God? If we neglect, if we fail to
hear, if we meet with indifference, if we don't give it priority
in first place, neglect it, I ain't mad at you, I just don't want
to listen to you. Neglected, we neglect, we just put aside
so great salvation. Great because of Him who spake
it, the Son of God. Under us a child is born, under
us a son is given, the government is on His shoulder. His name
is wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father,
the Prince of Peace. He can hear, and he spoke. How are we going to escape if
we neglect to hear him? Great because of the wisdom of
the gospel. It meets my need. It enables
God to be just and justified. It satisfies God's love on my
behalf. It honors God's justice. It fulfills
every requirement. It enables God to be holy and
just and righteous and yet merciful in love and grace to me and you.
Wisdom of it. Because of the cost of it. His
blood. Let this mind be in you which
was also in Christ Jesus who thought it robbery to be equal
with God. And yet made himself of no reputation. took upon himself the form of
a servant, was made in the likeness of flesh, became obedient unto
death, even the awful ignominious death of the cross. Wherefore
God so highly exalted him." I wouldn't hear him. I wouldn't hear him. I wouldn't
hear him who spake from heaven. So great salvation, great because
of the one who spake it, great because of the wisdom of it,
great because of the cost of it. You bought with a price. And great because of the power
of it. He is able to save to the uttermost. He doesn't make
a down payment on our salvation. He completes it. We're complete
in Him. Great because of the power of
it. able to say to the uttermost of them that come to God by Him,
I'm not ashamed of the gospel, it's the power of God, the power
of God, the salvation to everyone that believes it. He that heareth my word, and
believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall
never come into condemnation. but he's passed from death unto
life. How are we going to escape if every word spoken by those
men back yonder? God dealt with the people who
refused their words in justice and righteousness and wrath.
How are we going to escape if we neglect so great salvation
which at the first began to be spoken by our Lord? Our blessed
Lord, Jesus Christ. These are the words of Christ.
Come to me, I'll give you rest. Oh, everyone that thirsteth,
come to the water. And was confirmed by them that
heard him, the apostles. Confirmed by the apostles, those
men who walked with him and heard him and bore witness to his mighty power
and grace. They confirmed these words. And
also verse 4, God the Father bearing witness, bearing them
witness, God the Father You see, this is, He's spoken to us by
His Son, by Christ. The Word is true, not because
we preachers say it, because Christ said it. That's the truthfulness. I am
the truth. If the Son makes you free, you're
free indeed. You shall know the truth and
the truth will make you free. And He said, I'm the truth. I'm
the truth. Christ is the truth. But this truth was confirmed.
by them that heard Him, God also bearing them witness with signs
and wonders and miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost according
to His will. Now God has always done this
during the days of the writing of the Word. In the early days
of the prophecies and the pictures of Christ and the types of the
Old Testament, then the apostles. When he sent Moses down to deliver
Israel, he told Moses, he said, put your hand in your garment. And Moses did. God said, take
it out. He took it out and it was white
with leprosy. Put it back in. It was gone. Cast your rod down. He threw
it down and it became a snake. Moses by raising that rod brought
plague upon plague upon plague upon Egypt. Elijah raised the dead. And then these apostles, Peter,
James, and John, and Luke, and Nathaniel, and Paul, and these
apostles were given certain signs and wonders and gifts of the
Holy Ghost and the power to speak in other languages, to lay hands
on the sick, even to raise the dead. And what God was doing
there in verse 4 says He was bearing them witness that they
were speaking for God. You see, these signs are not
necessary today. I don't need to do anything like
that this morning to convince you that what I'm saying is from
God, because we have His Word. We have His completed Word, the
Word is complete. Genesis through Revelation, Old
Testament writings and the New Testament which fulfills all
that was written in promise. These men, when they went out,
didn't have the Word. Peter, James, and John, the disciples,
had the Old Testament, but Christ was the fulfiller of those things.
And like Nicodemus said about our Lord, he said, no man could
do these miracles except God be with him. And so God confirmed
the testimony of these witnesses by these signs and miracles and
wonders. You see, signs are not for believers,
they're for unbelievers. Turn to 1 Corinthians 14. Let
me show you something here. 1 Corinthians 14. 1 Corinthians 14 verse 22. You
hear people say, well, if you're baptized with the Holy Ghost,
you'll speak in tongues. That's a sign that you've been
baptized with the Holy Ghost. Believe me, it doesn't need a
sign. God's Word is sufficient. It says in 1 Corinthians 14 verse
22, wherefore tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe. Not to them that believe. They
believe God. They don't need a miracle. It's a miracle God speaks to
us. When I consider the heavens,
the sun, the moon, and the stars, what man is not even mindful
of Him? That He should give His Son for us, that Christ should
die for us, that God should give us His Word. That's a miracle. Everyone here who believes the
gospel is a miracle. You're a dead man raised. You're
a blind man who's received sight. You're a deaf man who can hear.
You're a hard-hearted criminal whom God has saved and made a
new creature. That's a miracle. There's a whole
lot greater miracle than raising a dead man physically. Because
that dead man you raise physically is going to die again. Forever. And that man you heal physically
is going to get sick and die. But that man whom God raises
will never die. And that man whom God heals is
healed forever. All sicknesses and diseases are
put away. Those tongues are not assigned
to them that believe, but to them that believe not. But prophesying,
preaching the gospel, serve it not for them that believe not,
they won't listen, but for them that believe. Every believer here this morning
believes what I'm reading. And every unbeliever does not
believe. That's right. I'll tell you this too. Signs
do not give faith. Miracles do not give faith. Those people that saw Moses and
heard Moses perished in the wilderness. What about when he put his rod
on that sea and the thing turned to dry land? Looks like that
affected the fellow forever, doesn't it? But it didn't. They
cursed him, threatened to kill him. The people who heard our Lord
and saw him perform miracle after miracle, raised Lazarus from
the dead, they didn't believe. Miracles do not give a new heart,
God does, do it with us. You can go out and perform all
the miracles you want to and amaze all the people you can
and get as many followers as you can and they all perish with
you. You depend on those things. I
know why you follow me, he said, because of the miracles you saw. But he did not reveal himself
to them. They saw the miracles but he did not reveal himself
to them because he knew their hearts. Miracles do not give faith. There's no connection between
seeing wonders and repenting and believing. Where men repent
is when they see Christ. Where men believe is when they
see Christ. Not when they see somebody comes
in crippled and walks out straight. Oh, that's wonderful. It is wonderful.
I'm glad for the man's sake. For a little while. But I've
seen some folks come in here walking crooked when I walk in
straight. I've seen people come here hard-headed
and unbelieving as the worst type, and went out here trusting
the Lord Jesus, rejoicing in the Spirit. That's a miracle.
Miracles have nothing to do with faith. Seeing a miracle will
not give faith. See and cry. Look into Jesus. Over in 2 Peter, turn over there
with me for a moment. 2 Peter chapter 1. Peter, James, and John went up
on a mountain with Christ. And there He was transfigured
before them. His clothes glistened. God the
Father's faith Moses and Elijah appeared. Moses the prophet,
Elijah the prophets and Christ, the law and the prophets and
Christ talking about his death on the cross. And then God said,
this is my son, hear ye him. Now Peter said, I saw that. I
saw that. I was a witness to the glorification
of the Son of God and the appearance of two men who had been in glory
a long time, and God spoke. Verse 17, 2 Peter 1, For he received
from God the Father honor and glory, when there came such a
voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son,
in whom I am well pleased. And this voice which came from
heaven I heard when we were with him in the
holy mountain. But my friends, verse 19, we have also a more
sure word of prophecy. Where unto you do well, that
you take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place,
until the day dawn, and the day star rise in your heart. What
is that more sure word of prophecy? Listen, knowing this verse, that
no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.
The prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but
holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit."
In other words, right here in my hand is that more sure word
of peace, that we do well to take heed
of it. I ask people this question, if
you could exchange your Bible right now, just exchange it, for the appearance of an angel
or even the voice of God from heaven saying this is my beloved son
or tonight the appearance of Moses himself and Elijah on the
other side of your bed, would you swap that for this? I wouldn't. This is the Word
of God. This is the sure Word of God.
This is the message and gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. The
Word of God is upon us. Of His own will begat He us with
the Word of Truth. We are born again not of corruptible
seed, but of incorruptible seed. You know, that vision may perish
from my mind. I may have a hard time recalling
it. I may have a hard time You know, saying just exactly what
did happen. I may even have doubts and fears
that maybe it didn't happen. Maybe it didn't. You see, feelings
come and feelings go and feelings are deceiving. You can trust
the everlasting Word of God. Nothing else is worth believing.
How shall we escape if we don't hear it? if we don't hear it. Verse 6, one in a certain place
testified, that was David, in Psalm 8. What is man that thou
art mindful of him? Or the son of man that thou visitest
him? I have made him a little lower
than the angels. I have crowned him with glory
and honor and have set him over the works of iron. Some people believe he's talking
about Adam there. He's talking about man before
he fell. And when you read Genesis 1,
it might lead you to consider that. Genesis 1 verse 26, God
said, let us make man in our image after our likeness and
let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the fowl
of the air, over the cattle, over all the earth, over every
creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God made man
in his own image. In the image of God created he
him. Male and female created he them. And God blessed them. And God said, Be fruitful and
multiply and replenish the earth. So do it. Have dominion over
the fish of the sea, the fowl of the air, and over every living
thing that moveth upon the earth. If you read that and read this,
Thou madest him a little lower than the angels. Thou crownest
him with glory and honor and did set him over the works of
thy hand. You may apply that to Adam before he fell. But look at the next verse. It
tells us who he's talking about here. Thou hast put all things, not
just the fish of the sea and the fowl of the air. Adam, even
in his days, of righteousness or holiness,
whatever he had. He couldn't hold a candle to
what our Lord has dominion over. Adam had dominion over the fish
and the fowls and the beasts and everybody he could whip.
But our Lord has put all things under the feet of Christ. All
things. God has given me all power in
heaven and earth. and over all flesh, that I should
give eternal life to as many as you gave me. He has all authority,
all power, King, Lord of Lords, King of Kings. Thou hast put
all things in subjection under His feet, for in that He put
all in subjection to Him, He left nothing that is not put
under Him. I hear preachers saying to people,
make Jesus your Lord. No. He is your Lord. You're His. He's your Lord by
decree, by design, by death, and by exaltation. All things. It's not a butterfly that flits
from one bloom to the other. It's not under His control. It's
not a leaf that'll fall in this fall season that falls without
Him. Not a sparrow that falls to the
ground without Him. All authority. Thou hast put
all things in subjection under His feet, in that He put all
things in subjection under Him. He left nothing that's not put
under Him. But now, right now, we don't
see all things put under Him. We see a lot of rebellion, don't
we? I see a lot of folks rising up against him, speaking wrong
things about him. But he suffers them to do these
things, so he's fulfilled his purpose. Just like old Pharaoh. Oh, he was a proud, arrogant
fellow. He dealt with Moses in a terrible way. He laughed at God. He did all these things, but
the Lord just permitted it. He raised him up to drown him
in the river. And that was the end of it. To
get glory. We see Jesus. There's what I'm
talking about when we see Jesus. He was made a little lower than
the angels. He came into this world to bear
the sins of his people. He was made flesh. He was made
lower than the angels. He was made flesh and dropped
from the house. Who did it? The Father made Him to be sin
for us. He was made of a woman, made
under the law, made Himself of no reputation, took upon Himself
the form of a servant, made in the likeness of men, made sin
for us. And then listen. We see Jesus who was made a little
lower than the angels for the suffering of death. We see him
crowned with glory, seated at the right hand of the Father,
having fulfilled all that God gave him to do, all that he came
to do. I finished the work you gave
me to do, therefore glorify thy son that thy son may glorify
thee. Christ is Lord. That He, by the grace of God,
should taste death for every man. What does this mean? Preacher
Christ should taste death for every man. It means what it says
in the next verse, verse 10 and 11. Here are the people for whom
He tasted death, for whom He suffered, for whom He bled. It
became Him. It became Him. It was necessary.
It was what the Father gave him to do. For whom are all things,
and by whom are all things, the Lord Jesus Christ. It became
him, it was necessary in bringing many sons into glory to make
the captor of their salvation perfect in suffering. Those are
the people he's talking about. For both he that sanctified and
David are sanctified are all of one. The Father chose Christ. Christ be my first elect he said
and then chose us in our head. The father gave Christ to bear
our sins in his body on the tree and we are one with him, one
eternally. For which cause he is not ashamed
to call them his brothers. There is the everyman, his brothers. There is the everyman, his bride.
There's every man his elect. There's every man his sheep,
his brethren. Saying, I will declare thy name,
I will manifest thy name unto my brethren. I've manifested your word to
them. That's what he prayed in John 17. I've given them your
word. I've manifested your name and
your word to them. God with Sunday Times faith by
our fathers, that's spoken by His Son. No man has seen God
in any time. The Son has revealed Him. I've
manifested Him. I will declare thy name unto
my brethren in the midst of the church, will I sing praise unto
thee? And again, I'll put my trust in Him, and again, behold,
I am the children which God hath given me. There it is. I am the
children which thou hast given me. And here's the reason why
all of this suffering of our Lord made flesh and made under the law. For as much
then as the children, the children that you've given me, the children
you've given me, as much as the children are partakers of flesh
and blood, That's what we are, flesh and blood. He also Himself,
to redeem us, to fulfill the righteousness God demands of
us, to satisfy His justice and His love, He also Himself likewise
took part of the same. He took flesh. Bone of our bone, flesh of our
flesh. He that descended is the same
that ascended. A tender plant, a root out of
a dry ground, a baby from a woman's womb. Why, we know him, the carpenter. A gluttonous man, a winebibber.
You're not 50 years old, how do you know Abraham? Just a man. He took part of the same, that
through death, He might destroy him that had the power of death,
that is the devil. He took sin's own weapons and
destroyed it. He conquered death with death.
His death conquered death. And he delivered them who through
fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
For verily he didn't take on himself the nature of angels.
Angels had fallen too. But Christ was not pleased to
redeem angels. He reserved them in everlasting
chains of darkness unto that great day. He didn't please him
to redeem. He took not on himself the nature
of angels. But he took on himself the seed
of Abraham. Wherefore, in all things, in
all things, in all that was required of us, in all that was demanded of us,
in all that we must have in everything, in
everything, it behooved him to be made like unto us. That God
was dealing with him, he dealt with us. When God's wrath fell
upon him, it fell upon us. When he obeyed, we obeyed. When
he died, we died. When he was buried, we were buried.
When he arose, we arose. When he ascended to heaven, we
ascended. And all this was necessary that
he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in all things pertaining
to God to make reconciliation. Reconciliation is atonement. put away the wrath, made peace
with God. There's no condemnation, there's
no judgment to them who encroach Jesus. Reconciliation? He's not
ashamed to call them brethren. For in that he himself has suffered
being tempted, he's able to succor them that are tempted. Oh my! We sure ought to give them more
earnest heed to these words that are spoken, lest at any time
we let them slip.